Name	Kamui Kobayashi
Height
Naionality	Japanese
Date of Birth	13-September-1986
Place of Birth	Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan
Famous for	Racing Driver

Kamui Kobayashi is a Japanese racing driver. He has competed in the GP2 Series, won the GP2 Asia Series, and made his Formula One debut with Toyota in the final two races of 2009 when he replaced Timo Glock after the German was injured in a crash during qualification for the Japanese Grand Prix. He has driven for Sauber since the 2010 season, but will leave the team after being replaced by Esteban Gutierrez for 2013.

He was named after Kamuy, a divine being in Ainu mythology, and the letter of the name imitated the sound citing three Kanji from the sentence "Enabling great dream(s)". In 2004, he signed for Toyota's Driver Academy and soon began his career in open wheel racing. His next step was Formula Renault, entering the Asian, German, Italian and Dutch championships and taking two race victories in the Italian championship. Kobayashi continued in the Formula Renault class, entering the Italian and European championships and with six wins in both championships, he won both titles. On 28 July 2011, it was announced that Kobayashi would remain with Sauber into the 2012 season, alongside team-mate Perez. Kobayashi started the season with sixth place at the Australian Grand Prix, and a retirement at the Malaysian Grand Prix, due to a problem with his car's brakes. He then started third at the Chinese Grand Prix behind the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher. He dropped to tenth but managed to set the fastest lap. At the Spanish Grand Prix he finished fifth after overtaking Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg. Kobayashi finished in the points once in the next four races, finishing ninth in Canada. Kobayashi finished in a career-best fourth place at the German Grand Prix – having finished fifth on-the-road – as he was helped by a post-race penalty for second-placed Sebastian Vettel. After retiring late in the race at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Kobayashi qualified a career-best second for the Belgian Grand Prix but was caught in a first-corner accident along with four other drivers. Kobayashi was the only one of the five to continue in the race, and finished thirteenth.

On 23 November 2012, Sauber announced that Kobayashi would not be a part of the team's line-up for the 2013 season, as Nico Hülkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez would form the race team and Robin Frijns as reserve driver. Kobayashi ultimately finished the season in twelfth place in the Drivers' Championship, with 60 points. Despite raising around €8 million in sponsorship, Kobayashi elected to focus on gaining a competitive drive for the 2014 season rather than a 2013 drive.